This is Different
by TimberWolfAlpha
Summary: She's had shrimp... she's had chicken... but what happens when Judy Hopps decides to try the third dietary staple of predatory cuisine? Rated T just to be safe, R&R if you want.


**Opening Statement:** Hey there people of fanfiction, long time no see huh? Well I had this idea while reading over my Zootopia story "Tastes Like..." and figured I'd at least try to get it down as soon as possible. Note this story will be set way before any of the "Seeking Forgiveness" stories, and is once again during a lunch break… don't judge me, I can write what I want!

 **Disclaimer:** Zootopia is the property of Disney, and in this instance I own nothing.

* * *

 **This is Different.**

Judy was a bit apprehensive today, it was her and Nick's lunch break and she was picking up their meal for today. Now that would be fine if it weren't for the fact she had promised him fried crickets; she had every intension of trying one, just she was buying her usual meal of grilled jumbo shrimp to be safe.

"Okay, got the shrimp, now to get the crickets for Nick," Judy said to herself, making her way to the bug cart and preparing to place her order, which was rather challenging since the cart was huge compared to the rabbit cop herself. Now what made Judy nervous about this was that she saw the cart used fresh ingredients, meaning that the guy cooking them was doing so while they were alive; she knew that bugs were not able to think or even feel, but the idea was still somewhat cruel to her. But in the end, it's just food, and so she made her way up the attached staircase and to the sales counter of the cart, apparently ran by a leopard with brown eyes.

"Can I help you ma'am?" the leopard asked, his tone more confused than anything; granted not very many rabbits came to his cart, so he was at least justified in his confusion.

"Hi, I'm here to order my partner some lunch, he's a fox and-"

"Oh, okay that makes more sense, not that I haven't served prey before but- nevermind, what's it going to be than miss?" the leopard asked, as Judy looked over the menu and made an effort not to think too much about what she was ordering.

"Alright, I think he would like to have the fried crickets, with chipotle sauce for dipping," Judy replied, the leopard putting it into his register and shaking his head a bit. Judy chuckled nervously and brushed her ears back a bit, "I know, kinda weird to be serving a bunny huh." Judy explained, the leopard nodding as he glanced to the rabbit.

"Can't say that I've served a rabbit before, so miss is that everything for you?" He asked, Judy glancing to the menu briefly and then nodding.

"I believe it is, we usually have coffee with our food anyway… I'm sorry if this sounds weird, but how do you actually cook the bugs? Like are they still... _alive_ as-"

"No ma'am, we pre-crush any of the insects we use before cooking them… it's not really necessary but it serves two purposes. One is to at least lessen any suffering on the bugs part, and secondly the way we season them has to be able to get inside the shells... sort of like the shrimp from the other cart, they have no heads because it allows flavours to mingle through the flesh." The leopard explained, Judy wearing a surprised expression before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well, now I don't feel so guilty about it anymore... thanks for the info... the names Judy by the way," the bunny cop replied, the leopard smiling and ringing up the order for payment.

"I'm Scott, and I've seen you before wandering around the other carts... anyway, the order is six ninety-five," Scott replied, Judy nodding and pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket.

"Keep the change, so how long is there to wait for that to be ready?" Judy asked, the leopard glancing back in the cart and smiling.

"It's actually ready now, all we have to do is bag it up for you." Scott replied, as his assistant bagged the order and handed it to the violet eyed doe.

* * *

(Later, in the cruiser)

The two mammals were enjoying their lunch together, Judy munching on a shrimp as Nick ate his crickets. Before too long the scent of Nick's lunch started to fill the car, and while not as enticing as the chicken sandwich had been, it still sent Judy's bunny brain into a conflict.

Nick noticed this quickly though and decided to cut the middle mammal out and held out his food to her, "Go ahead Carrots, have a bite before you make yourself question your sanity." Nick said with a grin, his lapin girlfriend rolling her eyes and taking one of the crickets to examine... or at least that was the plan before she surprised both herself and Nick by just popping it into her mouth and chewing it up, the red fox raising an eyebrow as he watched Judy chew the bug up before finally swallowing it down, "Well... how was it-"

"It's... different, I mean as I chewed it up I started to taste something, similar to the shrimp, but more... earthy, you know?" Judy explained, Nick chuckling a bit as he tossed a couple more crickets into his mouth.

"I guess that makes sense, I mean crickets and shrimp are very similar, just one lives in the ocean and the other lives in the ground." Nick said, Judy smirking and reaching to grab a couple more of Nick's crickets, the fox giving her a decent amount to go with her shrimp.

* * *

(Later, after work at Nick and Judy's apartment)

The two were in their living room, watching TV on the couch before Judy grumbled and got up to go to the kitchen. "What's wrong Carrots, feeling a bit hungry?" Nick asked, now getting up to follow his bunny to the kitchen, entering to find her using a tooth pick and growling softly in annoyance.

"You never mentioned that crickets are like popcorn... I'm picking shell bits out of my teeth." Judy explained, Nick chucking as he got himself some water.

"That tends to happen if you just eat them whole, if you had taken notice, I was crushing them with my tongue and a spitting the shells out the window- Carrots what's with the look?" Nick asked, as Judy simply glared at him, not angry mind you, just annoyed.

"You mean to tell me I ate crickets wrong... and you _let_ me do it without stopping me?" Judy asked with mild frustration, Nick grinning as he took a sip of water.

"Yup... I mean you have to learn as you go in predator cuisine, and the first rule is to not eat the shells of bugs... plus it was funny to watch you trying to pick them out of your teeth all day with your tongue." Nick explained, Judy rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

* * *

And that's the end... I know, first story before the new year and it's pretty short, but keep in mind I'm typing this on my phone, which isn't too difficult what with it being a BlackBerry Keyone, but it's still a lot harder than on a laptop.

Anyway I hope you guys and girls out there enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next post I make, see ya- hold on a moment... I know I've been saying this a lot on Tumblr recently, but I figured I'd say it here too.

A while ago, back on the 14th of December, the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality, something that makes people able to go where they want online without their ISP being able to do anything about it... and what makes it worse they used the aliases of dead people, and even fictional characters to make messages in favor of the repeal. So far 20 of American States are banding to sue FCC chairman Ajit Pai for illegally repealing net neutrality protections, and the vote has made it to Senate…

Now why I explained that was to say that I've been fighting for America's right to a free and open Internet, despite my being Canadian, and now I'm asking for some help... see here in Canada, our ISPs, Bell, Shaw, Cineplex and Rogers, are all now lobbying to end net neutrality in Canada... I'm not asking for much, just that if you read this story, than at least help us out... like we helped you.

Anyway, I'm TimberWolfAlpha, and thanks for reading. #save the net.


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